Tech breakthroughs mean all can be differently abled

A TINY baby, gurgling with pleasure; a heavily tattooed young woman burying her face in her hands. Videos of formerly deaf people, overcome by emotion as they hear for the first time, are wildly popular. It is easy to see why: they vividly capture the moment that someone joins the world of the hearing.

But to some, such videos can seem misleading, if not offensive, in the impression they give of a miracle cure. Not everyone can use the cochlear implants featured and those who do sometimes struggle to make sense of what they hear. A growing number of people now reject the idea of deafness as a disability that needs curing; rather, they identify with a Deaf community with a rich culture of its own.

These issues are about to snap into sharper focus. We should soon know if gene therapy can safely restore ear function, rather ...

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